0210-24 NY Times Crossword 10 Feb 24, Saturday

Constructed by: Zhouqin Burnikel
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Theme: None

Bill’s time: 11m 32s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Banking annoyance associated with the 20s? : ATM FEE

The twenty-dollar bill is called a “Jackson” as it bears the portrait of President Andrew Jackson on the front side of the bill. Jackson’s image replaced that of President Grover Cleveland in 1928, and there doesn’t seem to be any record documenting just why that change was made. Over one-fifth of all notes printed today are twenty-dollar bills. The average life of a Jackson is a little over 2 years, after which it is replaced due to wear.

15 Sara who wrote the “Pretty Little Liars” books : SHEPARD

“Pretty Little Liars” is a mystery drama TV series aimed at teens. It is based on a series of novels penned by Sara Shepard. The original show spawned a whole franchise of TV series, including “Pretty Dirty Secrets”, “Ravenswood”, “Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists” and “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin”.

16 2024, e.g. : YEAR OF THE DRAGON

The 12-year cycle in the Chinese calendar uses the following animals in order:

  • Rat
  • Ox
  • Tiger
  • Rabbit
  • Dragon
  • Snake
  • Horse
  • Goat
  • Monkey
  • Rooster
  • Dog
  • Pig

33 Regulation followers, in brief : OTS

Overtime (OT)

34 Symbol of purity or spirituality : LILAC

The ornamental flowering plant known as lilac is native to the Balkans, and is a member of the olive family. The name “lilac” comes from the Persian word “lilaq,” which means “flower.”

35 Like some brains and pool balls : RACKED

The verb “to rack”, as in “to rack one’s brains”, is a reference to the medieval torture device that tear the limbs from the body. So, to rack something is to put it under extreme strain and stress. To rack one’s brain is to think very hard in an attempt to remember something or to solve a problem.

37 Treat often eaten with a small wooden spoon : GELATO

Gelato (plural “gelati”) is the Italian version of American ice cream, differing in that it has a lower butterfat content than its US counterpart.

38 Institution of 40+ years that has many notable alums : SNL

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) was named “NBC’s Saturday Night” during its first season. This was to differentiate it from the ABC show airing at that time, called “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell”. Chevy Chase uttered the famous line “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night” in the very first SNL episode on October 11, 1975. That careful wording has persisted, even though the NBC show’s name was changed to “Saturday Night Live” after Cosell’s show went off the air in 1976.

43 Setting for a Twins or White Sox game: Abbr. : CDT

Central Daylight Time (CDT)

46 Kit ___ : KAT

I grew up eating Kit Kat bars as a kid. The Kit Kat hit the shelves on the other side of the pond in the 1930s, but didn’t make it into US stores until the 1970s. I’ve seen new varieties of Kit Kat bars over in Britain and Ireland, such as an orange-flavored version. I’ve been told that there are even more varieties available in Japan.

50 Honors held by only one U.S. president and one U.K. prime minister : PHDS

Woodrow Wilson was a professor at Princeton from 1890 to 1902 at which time he was promoted to president of the university. Professor Wilson had earned his PhD. at Johns Hopkins University in 1886, so that when he was elected 28th President of the United States in 1912, he became the only US President to hold a PhD.

Gordon Brown took over as prime minister of Britain after Tony Blair stepped down from office in 2007. Scotsman Brown had served as Chancellor of the Exchequer for the whole of Blair’s ten-year term. Brown served as PM until 2010 when the Labour Party lost a huge number of seats, allowing a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition to come to power. As an aside, Gordon Brown was the first British prime minister with a Ph.D.

54 Bull-like : TAURINE

“Taurine” is an adjective meaning of or relating to a bull. “Taurus” is Latin for “bull”.

56 Apple Pay, e.g. : E-WALLET

Apple Pay is a payment service that operates with many of Apple’s mobile devices. Apple Pay competes directly with Google Wallet. Much as I like the idea behind Apple Pay and Google Wallet, they just don’t seem to be gaining any traction at all in the retail market …

59 Bit of sportswear : SNEAKER

“Sneaker” is a common name for an athletic shoe, one that is now used as everyday casual wear. The term “sneaker” is used widely across the US. Back in my homeland of Ireland, the terms “trainer” and “tennis shoe” are more common.

60 Pasta shaped like wagon wheels : ROTELLE

Rotelle is a type of pasta with a shape resembling spoked wheels. The term “rotelle” comes from the Italian for “small wheel”.

Down

1 “Game of Thrones” character whose name means “noble” in Sanskrit : ARYA

Maisie Williams is the English actress who plays the tomboyish young girl Arya Stark on the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones”.

8 Olympian Strug or Walsh Jennings : KERRI

Kerri Strug is that plucky little gymnast who made an outstanding final vault in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics despite having an injured ankle. I think we all remember her being carried off after her vault in the arms of the US team coach Bela Karolyi.

Kerri Walsh Jennings was partnered with Misty May-Treanor when they won three gold medals in beach volleyball in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

9 Sierra Nevada or Lagunitas offering : IPA

The Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is powered almost exclusively by solar energy, and even has a charging station for electric vehicles at its brewery. The company also uses the cooking oil from its restaurant as biodiesel for its delivery trucks. Discarded yeast is used to make ethanol fuel, and spent grain is used as food for livestock. For its efforts to preserve the environment, Sierra Nevada won the EPA’s “Green Business of the Year” award for 2010.

The Lagunitas Brewing Company was founded in 1993 and takes its name from Lagunitas, California where the brewery was originally located. Famously, the brewery has been associated with the use of marijuana. There used to be a tradition of a weekly party at which marijuana was openly smoked. The State of California went so far as to shut down operations in 2005 for twenty days while they investigated alleged cannabis dealing. No charges were filed, and the Lagunitas later brought out a beer called “Undercover Investigation Shut-Down Ale”.

12 ___ Mode, character in “The Incredibles” : EDNA

“Incredibles 2” is a 2018 movie that is a sequel to 2004’s “The Incredibles”. Both films were written and directed by Brad Bird. Bird was also a cast member for “Incredibles 2” as he voiced Edna Mode, a fashion designer for superheroes.

21 Material for deck chairs : TEAK

A deck chair is a folding chair with a single strip of fabric that forms the backrest/seat. The term “deck chair” was coined when such folding chairs became common sights on the decks of ocean liners and cruise ships.

23 Capital with an airport named after Chopin : WARSAW

Warsaw is the capital of Poland. The city’s name translates into English as “belonging to Warsz”. Legend has it that Warsz was a fisherman who fell in love with a mermaid called Sawa. It’s a nice story, but Warsz was actually a nobleman from the 12th or 13th century who owned a local village.

Frédéric Chopin was a Polish composer who spent most of his life in France. He was most famous for his piano works in the Romantic style. Chopin was a sickly man and died quite young, at 39. For many of his final years he had a celebrated and tempestuous relationship with the French author George Sand (the nom de plume of the Baroness Dudevant). Those years with Sand may have been turbulent, but they were very productive in terms of musical composition.

28 Home to the Crazy Horse Memorial : BLACK HILLS

The Black Hills are a mountain range in South Dakota and Wyoming. They are home to some celebrated locations including Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave National Park, the Crazy Horse Memorial and the historic city of Deadwood.

Crazy Horse’s Lakota name translates literally into English as “His Horse is Crazy or Spirited”. Crazy Horse was one of the tribal war party leaders at the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand. Crazy Horse surrendered to the US Army in 1877. He was fatally stabbed while in custody, apparently trying to escape after having surrendered. The circumstances surrounding his death are still shrouded in controversy.

29 Man with a Manx, say : CAT DAD

I’ve seen Manx cats by the dozen on their native island. They’re found all over the Isle of Man (hence the name “Manx”) that is located in the middle of the Irish Sea. Manx cats have just a stub of a tail, and hence are called “stubbins” by the locals.

30 Sister brand of Miracle-Gro : SCOTTS

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company was founded in 1868 by one Orlando Scott, and initially sold seed to the agricultural industry. In the early 1900s, Scotts started to sell to homeowners, and mainly supplied lawn seed. The company merged with the gardening company Miracle-Gro in 1955, and then with TruGreen in 2016.

40 One born between the mid-1960s and 1980 : GEN-XER

The term “Generation X” originated in the UK where it was the name of a book by Jane Deverson. Her book detailed the results of a study of British youths in 1964, contrasting their lifestyle to those of previous generations. It was Canadian author Douglas Coupland who was responsible for popularizing the term, with his more successful publication “Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture”. By one definition, Gen-Xers were born between 1961 and 1981.

52 Puma rival : NIKE

Nike was founded in 1964 in Eugene, Oregon by entrepreneur Phil Knight and track-and-field coach Bill Bowerman as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS). BRS started out by distributing athletic shoes made in Japan. The company started making its own shoes in 1971 and changed its name to Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory.

Puma is a German company that sells athletic shoes worldwide. The company is most famous for its line of soccer boots.

53 Actress Blanchett : CATE

Cate Blanchett is a great actress from Australia, and a winner of an Academy Award for playing Katharine Hepburn in “The Aviator”. Winning for that role made Blanchett the first person to win an Academy Award for playing an actor (Hepburn) who had also won an Oscar. Now that is trivial information …

55 “Is that ___?” : A NO

Yes

57 “Telephone Line” band, in brief : ELO

“Telephone Line” was released as a single in 1977 by the band ELO, and hit the top ten listings on both sides of the Atlantic. The initialism “ELO” stands for the Electric Light Orchestra, a symphonic rock group from the north of England. Their manager was Don Arden, father of Sharon Osbourne (wife of Ozzy).

58 Half a score : TEN

Our verb “to score” meaning “to tally”, comes from the Old Norse “skor”, which is a “mark, notch”. It is likely that items such as livestock were counted by placing a notch in a stick for each set of twenty, hence our use of the noun “score” to mean “twenty”.

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1 Banking annoyance associated with the 20s? : ATM FEE
7 “Ah, got it now!” : OK, I SEE!
13 Concerns for manufacturers : RECALLS
15 Sara who wrote the “Pretty Little Liars” books : SHEPARD
16 2024, e.g. : YEAR OF THE DRAGON
18 Tiny social climber : ANT
19 Play ground? : THEATER
20 ___ group : AS A
21 Evidence of crying : TEARSTAIN
23 Rocked, so to speak : WORE
26 Part of a choir : TENOR
27 Preschool recital : ABCS
31 Pentagon figures : AREAS
33 Regulation followers, in brief : OTS
34 Symbol of purity or spirituality : LILAC
35 Like some brains and pool balls : RACKED
37 Treat often eaten with a small wooden spoon : GELATO
38 Institution of 40+ years that has many notable alums : SNL
39 Annual mecca for sci-fi and fantasy fans : MEGACON
43 Setting for a Twins or White Sox game: Abbr. : CDT
44 Personal number? : AGE
45 Cry after a motion : I SECOND!
46 Kit ___ : KAT
47 Withdraw (from) : WEAN
49 Just plain silly : INANE
50 Honors held by only one U.S. president and one U.K. prime minister : PHDS
51 Celebratory greeting for 16-Across : GONG XI FA CAI
54 Bull-like : TAURINE
56 Apple Pay, e.g. : E-WALLET
59 Bit of sportswear : SNEAKER
60 Pasta shaped like wagon wheels : ROTELLE
61 Legit : KOSHER
62 Learning opportunity : LESSON

Down

1 “Game of Thrones” character whose name means “noble” in Sanskrit : ARYA
2 Many a camp counselor : TEEN
3 Exam for a doc-to-be : MCAT
4 Way out : FAR
5 Grilled corn-on-the-cob dish, in Mexican cuisine : ELOTE
6 Red-and-green headwear : ELF HAT
7 “This can’t be good” : OH DEAR
8 Olympian Strug or Walsh Jennings : KERRI
9 Sierra Nevada or Lagunitas offering : IPA
10 Long-running account : SAGA
11 Carrier of a bow and arrow : EROS
12 ___ Mode, character in “The Incredibles” : EDNA
14 House speaker’s place : STEREO
15 Scrapes : SET-TOS
17 Lacks, informally : HASN’T
21 Material for deck chairs : TEAK
22 “Canvas” for digital art? : NAIL
23 Capital with an airport named after Chopin : WARSAW
24 Common gift during Chinese Spring Festival : ORANGE
25 Some local sports associations, informally : REC LEAGUES
28 Home to the Crazy Horse Memorial : BLACK HILLS
29 Man with a Manx, say : CAT DAD
30 Sister brand of Miracle-Gro : SCOTTS
32 One of two in a tournament : SEMI
34 Grant temporary custody? : LEND
36 ___ clothing : DESIGNER
37 Badly off-base? : GONE AWOL
40 One born between the mid-1960s and 1980 : GEN-XER
41 Smoothie berry : ACAI
42 Discuss something (with) : CONFER
48 Woman’s name that becomes a direction when its fourth letter is changed : NORAH
50 Loses color : PALES
52 Puma rival : NIKE
53 Actress Blanchett : CATE
54 “Ba-a-a-ad!” : TSK!
55 “Is that ___?” : A NO
57 “Telephone Line” band, in brief : ELO
58 Half a score : TEN